Dear IMFW Community

As the founding and guiding teacher of IMFW, I have the responsibility of guiding the IMFW Sangha to an increasingly deeper understanding of the teachings of the Buddha. It is also my responsibility to fill the teacher's seat each Tuesday evening with those who have a deep knowledge of the Buddha's teachings and a dedicated path of practice. The Teacher Collective was created last year to assist me in selecting these teachers.

The Teacher Collective is a group whose purpose is "to ensure that retreats, programs, trainings, and studies dedicated to discovering, establishing, and embracing the Dharma are available to those who attend IMFW gatherings." Appointments to the Teacher Collective will be by consensus vote of present Collective members and is based on commitment and dedication to in-depth study and practice. The Collective will have a representative on the Board of Directors who will attend each board meeting to guide and ensure that the decision-making process of the board stays within the framework of IMFW's stated mission in terms of the Dharma. The current Teacher Collective consists of Drew Consalvo, John and Pam Steinbach, Caran Ross, and Tammy Dyer.

If you have any suggestions or questions about how we might serve you better, please feel free to contact any of those listed above.

Walking the path to spiritual growth is a lifelong adventure, made richer through the presence of community. The Teacher Collective wishes to foster a space where safety, connection and belonging is present. The Buddha tells us that good friendships mean choosing friends to whom we can look for guidance and instruction, a kind of companionship that is very necessary as we walk life's path.

As Dharma practitioners, our task is to keep unwholesome tendencies in check and foster the growth of wholesome tendencies--those that lead to purification of mind and heart, those that lead to awakening to freedom.

Our minds are much like a chameleon, which alters its color according to its background. Just as this remarkable lizard turns green when in the grass and brown when on the ground, we become fools when we associate with fools and sages when we associate with sages.

The Buddha wasn't suggesting that a spiritual friend must be without hindrances and never does harm to self or other. He was saying that spiritual friends practice right speech, livelihood, and action. They practice generosity, compassion, and lovingkindness.

As spiritual friends, we aren't always perfect either. But we do know that certain thoughts, actions and words lead to happiness and others lead to suffering. And our practice is doing more of the things that lead to peace and harmony and less of the things that lead to discomfort.

So, Sangha isn't a community of perfect people who really know where they are going. But we do have the words the Buddha offered us about the possibilities the practice offers if we walk the path of freedom. We are simply a group of people who are committed to that path in the best way we know how at any given moment. And mostly, we just practice a lot of patience, a lot of beginning again, and a lot of forgiveness with as much mindfulness as we can muster.

We are simply people, committed to a practice that leads us in the direction toward which we want to orient our life. By coming together as a Sangha on a regular basis, we can remind each other that there is a better way to live life.

It is my hope that this Sangha is a counterweight to those parts of your life that don't feed and nourish you like our friends at IMFW do.

May all beings be well,

Carol Blotter, the primary meditation teacher at Chelsea Meditation in Michigan, will be leading a non-residential weekend retreat at IMFW, 2332 Sandpoint Road, Fort Wayne on October 23 and 24. The silent retreat will begin at 9:00 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday mornings and end at 5:00 p.m. Saturday and 3:00 p.m. Sunday. Participants are asked to attend all sessions, if at all possible.

The topic for the retreat is The Four Courages on the Path, and we will work with these four courages in meditations, practices and awareness. The Four Courages are the courage to be human, the courage to be present, the courage to welcome afflictive emotions, and the courage to live from an open heart.

To sign up or get more information, please contact Caran Ross at rosscaran@gmail.com. More information will follow.

Carol will also offer a public talk Friday evening, October 22 from 7:00-8:30 pm. This is a drop-in session and there is no need to sign up. The talk will be appropriate for beginners as well as more experienced students of the Buddha’s teachings. It will be helpful to the weekend retreat experience if those who sign up for the retreat can attend Friday night’s session.

For more information about Carol, please visit the Chelsea Meditation website at https://www.chelseameditation.com/

Drew Consalvo, a teacher at Insight Meditation Fort Wayne (IMFW) is offering an Introduction to Insight Meditation Class, beginning Monday, September 6th, and continuing for four weeks. Drew’s teaching will be based upon the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as practiced in Theravada Buddhism.

This four-week course will offer an introductory look at mindfulness of body and breath, feeling, mind, and phenomena. These classes may help you discover ways to benefit from a dedicated meditation practice and perhaps learn a bit more about Buddhist practice in general.

These classes will be offered at IMFW 2332 Sandpoint Road, in Fort Wayne. Please join Drew every Monday, September 6th through September 27, 2021, 7:00- 8:00 p.m. and learn about meditation from the Theravada tradition.

To register, please fill out the form at https://www.imfw.org/intro. For further information you may contact Drew at drewconsalvo@gmail.com.

This is class is offered freely. Please consider donating to IMFW to help us continue to offer programs like this.

We are following CDC guidelines, so as recommended by the CDC, whether you are vaccinated or not, masks are strongly recommended. Please note this is a change for us and we appreciate your compliance.

You may have noticed that we've enjoyed an expanded teaching staff! During the Pandemic, several local teachers have joined our Tuesday meditation and have offered their wit and wisdom in a Dharma talk following meditation. Along with Tammy Dyer, Founder and Guiding teacher, and Drew Consalvo we are enjoying teachings from John Steinbach, Pam Steinbach and Caran Ross. All have been teaching on a regular basis during this past year. Each month will feature one of our teachers and you can read about any of them on our website: https://www.imfw.org/teachers

Volunteers Needed

We are specifically looking for volunteers who are willing to help with some painting repairs to the baseboards in the basement. We've had some water damage and we are working to restore things. We also need someone to help coordinate the Tea. We offer folks a chance to gather and talk on the second Tuesday of the month, following the dharma talk. The coordinator makes sure things are set up and cleaned up. Usually there are several volunteers who assist. If you are interested in either, or willing to help in another way, please contact Tammy at tamaradyer6@gmail.com or on our website as listed above.

We continue to offer Sunday Sits, which is an opportunity to sit in silence yet in community. The bell rings Sunday morning at 10 am. for a 45 minute silent time of meditation.

Yoga and Tai Chi are offered prior to the Sunday Sit, at 9:15 to 9:45 am. All are welcome, no experience is necessary. This gentle class aims to help you be able to sit more comfortably. Pam Steinbach leads the class.

We also welcome Pam Steinbach to the Board of Directors for IMFW!

Our mission is to share the Buddha's teachings with all those who are interested, to provide support to deepen our meditation practice, and to bring wisdom and compassion into daily life.

We have welcomed several wise and delightful teachers to Insight Meditation Fort Wayne. John Steinbach and his wife, Pam Steinbach, along with Caran Ross, all were willing to share teaching responsibilities with Tammy Dyer and Drew Consalvo while we were meeting via Zoom. Now all are teaching live and in person at 2332 Sandpoint Road! Each month, we'll be featuring one. They each have a special way of teaching and interpreting the teachings. Each one is worth coming to hear and experience their special insight into ways to live the teachings of the Buddha.

John Steinbach